HTC to Develop VR Headset for U Ultra Smartphone

During a launch event for the U Ultra, HTC announced that it will also be developing a mobile VR headset for its newest smartphone. Though exact details are currently unknown, the company president did say that it will not “be a phone slapped onto a headset,” but will be something else entirely.

As HTC is the creator of what many consider to be the best VR headset on the market, this promises to be an exciting new development. Thus far, mobile headsets like the Google Daydream are generally lacking in performance and it will be interesting to see how HTC tackles this problem. The company’s president, Chang Chia-lin, did detail that the display for the new VR headset would be built-in and that the fairly powerful U Ultra would only be used to render the graphics.

With this scarce information we can probably speculate that the new headset would be a standalone which would be plugged into the U Ultra, unlike the Samsung Gear VR which uses the phone to render and display the graphics. This should make the entire experience much more immersive than what is offered by most mobile competitors, though we’d have to know more about the actual headset to decide whether it will even come close to the quality of the HTC Vive or even the Oculus Rift.

When the new VR headset would launch is unknown, as is what it would cost. The HTC Vive may be the best of its kind, but it’s also the most expensive. If HTC decides to also price this new gadget in the same range, it’s doubtful whether it will take off. After this unexpected announcement, it’s more than likely we’ll be hearing a followup with more details soon.

Fergus has been tinkering with computers since he was a kid and likes to put a stop to parties by listing the specs of all the digital devices in the room. It's best not to let him near your computer since he'll take it apart and may not put it back together again before he leaves.